What Happened to MFI ?

What Happened to MFI ?

What Happened to MFI ?

These tough economic times have lead to the collapse of many UK businesses within the furniture trade one of these most notably being MFI.

MFI furniture was founded in 1964 by two British men and after 50 years of trading had over 100 stores across the UK mostly in out of town shopping centres. The stores were between 15,000 and 30,000 square feet and home deliveries amounted to over 50 million items per year being delivered across the UK.

MFI offered a full range of furniture for all rooms in the house including bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and offices. In particular they were associated with self assembly furniture. With early success MFI were at the forefront of furniture retailing before experiencing financial problems and eventually being placed into administration in 2008.

MFI did not survive over 50 years unscathed. They had featured on "Watchdog" and consumer magazine "Which" for issues over pricing and advertising. It was alleged that the pricing policy deceived customers as some of the items within the sale had never actually been sold at the higher price, also that as soon as one sale ended another one would begin almost immediately. They also advertised cheap kitchens but would then fail to include all appliances originally shown.

The company had sought to improve aspects of the business including customer service and product range.

When the possibility arose of administration, MFI requested a 3 month rent free period from landlords but no agreement could be reached. Inevitably by December 2008 no buyer had been found, all stores were closed and 1400 jobs were lost with no confirmation that outstanding customer orders would be fulfilled.

In August 2010 it was announced that the MFI brand had been bought by the Walker Group. The re-launch promises to be "one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the UK retail calendar" although no date has been announced as yet for this revival. It is promised that the new MFI brand will be refreshed to offer a more design led product range whilst at the same time keeping in mind the choice and value MFI customers came to expect.

With the obvious example of Woolworth's return to the market as an online retailer there is hope that the MFI re-launch could also be a success. Talk of launches and re launches in any industry will leave a small glimmer of hope in amongst the doom and gloom stories of the current economic climate.

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